1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to cordless telephone sets, and more particularly relates to a cordless telephone set and a registration method therefor. The cordless telephone set includes a base unit connected to a telephone line and a terminal unit connected by radio to the base unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cordless telephone sets including a base unit connected to a telephone line and a terminal unit connected by radio to the base unit are widely used in general households. In such cordless telephone sets, a discrimination code, e.g. a base unit number or a terminal unit number, is set in order to discriminate a relationship between the base unit and terminal unit. Radio connection will be made when the discrimination code registered in the base unit matches that registered in the terminal unit.
When installing an additional terminal unit to the known cordless telephone set, it is required that the terminal unit to be added is not registered to any base unit. When adding a terminal unit which has been registered to a different base unit, the additional installation will not be completed unless the registration data of the terminal unit is deleted beforehand. Often, deletion of the registration data involves a complex operation in order to prevent the data from being deleted by accident.
Also, there has been proposed a cordless telephone set provided with a terminal unit capable of being registered to a plurality of base units. However, it requires a complex operation to register the terminal unit, such as setting the base unit number and the terminal unit number.
When performing additional installation of the terminal unit to the known cordless telephone set, a user must know whether the terminal unit to be added is unregistered. This may cause inconvenience to the user. When the terminal unit to be added has been registered to a different base unit, the user is required to perform additional complex operations to delete the registration contents. This may be burdensome to the user.
When adding the terminal unit that is capable of being registered to a plurality of base units, it is necessary to register the base unit number and the terminal unit number in both the base unit and the terminal unit, imposing a substantial burden on the user.
When the user forgets to register a certain unit and thus the relationships registered in each unit do not coincide with each other, communication between each unit will become confused. However, the known cordless telephone set is not provided with a function for automatically resolving the confused communication.
In the additional installation of the terminal unit or the registration of the terminal unit to a plurality of base units, it is necessary to perform a complex operation in order to activate the terminal unit. It is thus difficult for the user to register the terminal unit. Furthermore, when the user forgets to register a certain unit and thus the registration contents of each unit do not coincide with each other, communication between each unit may become confused. The confused communication will not be resolved until the registration contents are corrected.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cordless telephone set in which additional registration of a base unit and/or a terminal unit may be performed with a simple operation, and lines connected to all the registered base units may be used from the terminal unit.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a registration method for a cordless telephone set in which additional registration of a base unit and/or a terminal unit is performed with a simple operation.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cordless telephone set including a base unit connected to a telephone line and a terminal unit connected by radio to the base unit. The base unit includes: a terminal-unit detecting unit, which includes a cradle on which the terminal unit is placed, for detecting that the terminal unit is placed on the cradle; a recording unit for recording an identification number unique to the base unit and an identification number unique to the terminal unit having a relationship with the base unit; a communicating unit for communicating data including the identification numbers with the terminal unit by radio; and a control unit for recording the identification number of the terminal unit in the recording unit on condition that the identification number of the terminal unit input by the communicating unit is not in the recording unit. The terminal unit includes: a base-unit detecting unit for detecting that the terminal unit is placed on the cradle of the base unit; a recording unit for recording the identification number of the terminal unit and the identification number of the base unit having a relationship with the terminal unit; a communicating unit for communicating data including the identification numbers with the base unit by radio; and a control unit for recording the identification number of the base unit in the recording unit on condition that the identification number of the base unit input by the communicating unit is not in the recording unit.
In the cordless telephone set described above, the base unit, which has detected by the terminal-unit detecting unit that the terminal unit is placed thereon, awaits the terminal unit identification number to be transmitted from the terminal unit. The terminal unit, which has detected by the base-unit detecting unit that the terminal unit is placed on the base unit, transmits the terminal unit identification number to the base unit by the communicating unit. After receiving the terminal unit identification number by the communicating unit, the base unit checks for the identification number transmitted from the terminal unit by the control unit. When the terminal unit identification number is not on an identification number list of terminal units having a relationship with the base unit, which is recorded in the recording unit, the terminal unit identification number is added to the list, thus updating the list. Next, the base unit transmits the base unit identification number to the terminal unit by the communicating unit. The terminal unit, which has received the identification number of the base unit by the communicating unit, checks for the received identification number of the base unit by the control unit. When the received identification number of the base unit is not on an identification number list of base units having a relationship with the terminal unit, the base unit identification number is added to the list, thus updating the list. Accordingly, the identification number lists of both the base unit and the terminal unit, which are indicative of a relationship between the base unit and the terminal unit, are updated.
Pursuant to another aspect of the features of the present invention, there is provided a cordless telephone set including a base unit connected to a telephone line and a terminal unit connected by radio to the base unit. The base unit includes: a recording unit for recording a terminal unit identification number list, which includes an identification number unique to the terminal unit having a relationship with the base unit and a terminal unit number assigned to the terminal unit, and a base unit number assigned to the base unit; a communicating unit for transmitting data, which include the corresponding terminal unit number and the base unit number of the base unit, to a predetermined terminal unit and communicating with the terminal unit by radio; and a control unit for updating the terminal unit identification number list and the base unit number of the base unit in accordance with the terminal unit number and the base unit number input by the communicating unit and recording the same in the recording unit. The terminal unit includes: a recording unit for recording a base unit identification number list, which includes an identification number unique to the base unit having a relationship with the terminal unit and a base unit number assigned to the base unit, and a terminal unit number assigned to the terminal unit; a communicating unit for transmitting data, which include the corresponding base unit number and the terminal unit number of the terminal unit, to a predetermined base unit and communicating with the base unit by radio; and a control unit for updating the base unit identification number list and the terminal unit number of the terminal unit in accordance with the terminal unit number and the base unit number input by the communicating unit and recording the same in the recording unit. In the cordless telephone set as described above, when the base unit and the terminal unit communicate with each other by radio, a transmitter transmits a receiver""s terminal unit number or base unit number and the transmitter""s base unit number or terminal unit number, which are recorded in the recording unit of the transmitter, to the receiver by the communicating unit. When the receiver receives the base unit number and the terminal unit number by the communicating unit, the receiver updates, based on the received base unit number and the terminal unit number, the receiver""s base unit number or terminal unit number and the terminal unit identification number list or the base unit identification number list by the control unit following a predetermined process.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a registration method for a cordless telephone set including a base unit connected to a telephone line and a terminal unit connected by radio to the base unit. The method includes the steps of: activating, by the base unit which has detected that the terminal unit is placed on the base unit, a registration mode in which radio communication from the terminal unit is awaited and registration of the terminal unit is performed; transmitting, by the terminal unit which has detected that the terminal unit is placed on the base unit, an identification number unique to the terminal unit to the base unit by radio; determining, by the base unit which has received the identification number of the terminal unit, whether the received identification number is on a terminal unit identification number list of terminal units having a relationship with the base unit; adding, by the base unit, the received identification number of the terminal unit to the terminal unit identification number list on condition that the received identification number is not on the list, thus updating the list; transmitting, by the base unit, the identification number of the base unit to the terminal unit by radio, thus ending the registration mode; determining, by the terminal unit which has received the identification number of the base unit, whether the received identification number is on a base unit identification number list of base units having a relationship with the terminal unit; and adding, by the terminal unit, the received identification number of the base unit to the base unit identification number list on condition that the received identification number is not on the list, thus updating the list.
In the registration method for the cordless telephone set described above, when the terminal unit is placed on the base unit, both the base unit and the terminal unit detect that the terminal unit is placed on the base unit. The terminal unit transmits its identification number to the base unit by radio. The base unit receives the terminal unit identification number and determines whether the received identification number is on the terminal unit identification number list. If the determination result is negative, the terminal unit identification number is added to the list, thus updating the list of terminal units having a relationship with the base unit. If the determination result is affirmative, the list is not updated. Regardless of the determination result, the base unit transmits its identification number to the terminal unit by radio. The terminal unit receives the base unit identification number and determines whether the received identification number is on the base unit identification number list. If the determination result is negative, the identification number is added to the list, thus updating the list of base units having a relationship with the terminal unit. If the determination result is affirmative, the list is not updated. Accordingly, the identification lists of both the base unit and the terminal unit, which are indicative of a relationship between the base unit and the terminal unit, are updated.
Pursuant to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a registration method for a cordless telephone set including a base unit connected to a telephone line and a terminal unit connected by radio to the base unit. The method includes the steps of: recording, by the base unit, a terminal unit identification number list, which includes a terminal unit number of the terminal unit having a relationship with the base unit and an identification number unique to the terminal unit corresponding to the terminal unit number, and a base unit number of the base unit; recording, by the terminal unit, a base unit identification number list, which includes a base unit number of the base unit having a relationship with the terminal unit and an identification number unique to the base unit corresponding to the base unit number, and a terminal unit number of the terminal unit; transmitting, by the base unit, the terminal unit number of the terminal unit recorded on the terminal unit identification number list of the base unit when the base unit communicates with the terminal unit; comparing, by the terminal unit which has received the terminal unit number from the base unit, the terminal unit number recorded in the terminal unit with the received terminal unit number; changing, by the terminal unit, the terminal unit number to the received terminal unit number on condition that the received terminal unit number is-greater than the recorded terminal unit number; transmitting, by the terminal unit, the base unit number of the base unit recorded on the base unit identification number list of the terminal unit when the terminal unit communicates with the base unit; comparing, by the base unit which has received the base unit number from the terminal unit, the base unit number recorded in the base unit with the received base unit number; and changing, by the base unit, the base unit number to the received base unit number on condition that the received base unit number is greater than the recorded base unit number.
In the registration method for the cordless telephone set described above, when normal communication is performed from the base unit to the terminal unit, the base unit transmits the terminal unit number, which is in the terminal unit identification number list recorded in the base unit, and the base unit number to the terminal unit. Upon reception of the unit numbers, the terminal unit updates the terminal unit number to the received value if the received terminal unit number is greater than the terminal unit number recorded therein. If the received base unit number is greater than the recorded base unit number, the terminal unit updates the base unit identification number list. Likewise, when communication is performed from the terminal unit to the base unit, the terminal unit transmits the base unit number, which is in the base unit identification number list recorded in the terminal unit, and the terminal unit number to the base unit. Upon reception of the unit numbers, the base unit updates the base unit number to the received value if the received base unit number is greater than the base unit number recorded therein. If the received terminal unit number is greater than the recorded terminal unit number, the base unit updates the terminal unit identification number list.
In the cordless telephone set and the registration method therefor according to the present invention, a user simply needs to place the terminal unit on the cradle of the base unit in order to update the identification number lists of the base unit and the terminal unit, thereby establishing radio communication. In addition, all the base units, each having a relationship with one terminal unit, recognize the terminal unit with the same terminal unit number. Also, all the terminal units, each having a relationship with one base unit, recognize the base unit with the same base unit number. Therefore, even when some units are not registered in the initial registration, communication will not become confused.